Four Seniors and a Tunnel
Disclaimer: I do not own Loud House and make no profit from this story.
Lori Loud lazed on the couch in her family's living room, idly looking at her phone. She was also fussing with her hair, which was longer and messier than usual. Her bangs kept getting into her eyes and she had to keep brushing them out of the way so she could see. She had tried to lay or sit on the couch a few different ways to avoid the problem, but was unable to get comfortable without her messy hair getting in the way. She had sat cross-legged, laid on her side, on her belly and even tried being upside down, but the results were all the same.
Letting out a frustrated grumble, Lori switched to laying down on her back and reached up with one hand to brush her bangs out of the way again. Her eyes remained focused on her phone screen as she read the latest post when the bangs fell back in her sight. She set her phone down momentarily so she could use both hands to try and force her hair into its proper place.
"Stay put you stupid hair!" She griped, holding it down. "Ugh, of all the times for my favorite salon to need renovations. Of course if Leni wasn't so busy with her job, she could just do it." Lori sighed. "She does way better than them anyway. She knows just the right way to wash my thick hair before cutting it just the way I love it."
As she tried to go back to looking at her phone, a knock sounded at the door. Lori got up from the couch and went over to answer. When she opened the door, she found her friends and classmates Carol, Dana and Chaz on the other side.
"Oh, hey guys! I wasn't expecting you!" Lori said, smiling widely.
"I can tell. It looks like you just got out of bed." Carol noted, pointing to Lori's hair. "Did we wake you up or something?"
"Oh, I'm just overdue for a cut." Lori answered sheepishly before she found herself focusing on Chaz. "Um, Chaz? Not to be rude but have you put on some weight?"
Chaz was indeed looking a lot heavier than usual. Lori wouldn't say it out loud, but he looked nearly twice as wide as usual, his belly sticking out from beneath his shirt. He was also wearing black yoga pants in place of his normal jeans. Most likely because he wasn't able to fit into them any more if Lori were to guess.
"Yeah, I was in a few eating contests." Chaz replied, patting his belly, making it jiggle a little. "Won all of them too. I ate sixty hot dogs, twelve and a half cherry pies and almost two hundred chicken wings in just one weekend!"
"And he's been binge eating ever since." Dana added. "It's been a week since he won those contests, but he keeps pigging out. Nothing but burgers and fish sandwiches every day! Plus side orders of fries to go with them."
"I got to keep it up. There's still a couple more next weekend." Chaz explained. "Got a burger eating contest and fish sandwich eating contest coming up. I plan to take first place for both!"
"I wish you'd enter a salad eating contest." Dana grumbled. "At least that's healthy food."
"Anyway." Carol said, stepping forward. "To answer your question, Lori, we're here for our study group. Finals are coming up, remember?"
Lori gasped. "That was today? I literally forgot all about it!"
"It's cool." Chaz said. "But we still can study over here right?"
"Oh, yeah, sure! Of course, come on in you guys." Lori said, stepping aside and gesturing them in. "I'm sure my parents won't mind since it's for studying."
Chaz went to step in through the doorway, his large body filling the space up instantly. So much so that the fat on his sides began to squish against the outside of the doorframe. He felt himself getting caught, but kept going anyways. It wasn't until he felt himself being wedged so tightly in the doorway that he realized there was a problem.
"Um… I think I might be stuck."
"Seriously?" Dana asked, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You did this to yourself with all that 'practicing', you know that, right?"
"Pretty sure just being in those contests would have been enough to cause this." Carol pointed out, stepping behind Chaz. "Okay, let's get him out of there. Lori, you pull. Dana and I will push."
"Got it." Lori said, stepping in front of Chaz. "Okay big guy, give me your hands."
"Kay." Chaz said, nodding and extending his arms. "Sorry about this."
Lori took his hands and started to pull on them. Meanwhile, Dana and Carol were each using one of their shoulders to push Chaz from behind. Carol was pushing using her right shoulder and Dana was using her left. The three girls struggled to try and get the boy through, straining their muscles as they did so.
"HHRNG… you know… MMPH… this would have been easier if… RGH… if you hadn't pigged out so much, Chaz!" Dana complained.
"Yeah, you know… URNGH… this sort of thing… OOPH… is only going to get worse. You need to… RNGH… try and lose this extra weight, pronto!"
"Hey it's not like I wanted this to happen!" Chaz said in his defense. "I didn't plan for those eating contests to all happen so soon!"
"They have a point though, Chaz." Lori said kindly. "You need to take better care of yourself. This isn't healthy."
Chaz let his head hang a little bit and said nothing more. Lori tried pulling a bit harder, gritting her teeth and closing her eyes tight. Dana and Carol both planted their feet firmly and then pushed with all their might against Chaz's back. Chaz popped free and suddenly lurched forward, losing his balance. Lori felt him moving and opened her eyes, seeing him coming right towards her. She sidestepped and got out of the way just in time, letting Chaz fall on the floor. Dana and Carol followed, the two landing on Chaz, their faces sinking into his rolls of back fat.
Carol and Dana got up, groaning from the unpleasant experience. Lori helped them to their feet and then the three assisted Chaz off of the floor. He wobbled a bit as he got back to his feet, smiling sheepishly at them as he scratched the back of his head.
"Sorry, again." He said. "Everyone okay?"
"Yeah, but no one would have to worry about it in the first place if you hadn't gotten stuck." Dana griped. "Seriously, get control of your appetite! Mom and Dad have been telling you eating too much would become a problem!"
"Yeah, I know. I know, okay?"
"I don't think that you do." Dana said, crossing her arms. "Having a brother like you can be a real pain sometimes."
"Um, anyways, let's head into the kitchen." Lori said. "Follow me."
She led her friends into the kitchen, pulling out chairs for them at the table. Dana and Carol seated themselves and Lori got some of her father's homemade lemonade from the fridge. She then joined the other girls at the table while Chaz opted to stand by the fridge.
"Okay, so studying for finals." Lori began. "What subject should we start with first?"
"Math." Dana said.
"History." Carol said at the exact same time.
The two looked at each other for a moment. They both furrowed their brows and then spoke again, repeating themselves. After that the two glared at each other.
"Uh, we talked about this, Carol." Dana said. "I need way more help with math than you do in history."
"Just because I've had good grades on all of Mr. Johanson's tests so far doesn't mean I'll ace the final. I heard he always makes the final exam five times harder than the other ones!"
"Oh, so you getting an A-minus would be worse than me getting a D?" Dana countered.
"Easy, both of you." Lori said. "Obviously both of you want to focus on the subject where you think you need help most. So how about this? Dana can work on her math with Chaz and I'll help Carol with her history notes. Sound good?"
Both Dana and Carol agreed to the idea. They got out their respective notes and textbooks and set them on the table. Lori placed her seat closer to Carol while Dana turned to face her brother. That's when she saw he had was busy eating at the moment. There was a sub sandwich with buffalo chicken, pepperoni, jalapeno peppers, tobassco sauce, and pepper-jack cheese in his hands, from which he had already taken a very large bite.
"Chaz! What the heck?! Lori didn't say it was okay to help yourself!" Dana chided.
"But she brought us to the kitchen. I thought she was gonna offer." Chaz said in response.
"Well she didn't!" Dana spat. "And don't talk with your mouth full!"
"It's fine, Dana." Lori said. "He's already eating it, so he may as well just enjoy the rest. In fact, feel free to grab something for yourself. You too Carol."
"I'm good thanks." Carol replied.
"Yeah, same here." Dana added. "Although Chaz is already eating enough for all of us."
"Ha, ha, ha. Very funny, sis. Say Lori, got any chips I can have with this sandwich?"
"In the cupboard, bottom shelf." Lori answered, letting out a sigh.
"Do you think maybe we could go someplace else to study?" Dana whispered. "To get my brother away from all of your food?"
Chaz frowned a little, catching what Dana had said. He shoved the sandwich into his mouth, taking another large bite out of it and chewing it up. Opening the cupboard, he grabbed for the chips, finding two kinds inside. Not wanting to choose one over the other, he took both the potato chips and the low-calorie bean chips which Lori loved to eat.
Lori, Dana and Carol all wrinkled their noses in disgust and Chaz began wolfing down the chips. He took a big handful of one, shoving it into his mouth and then immediately followed it with a big handful of another. Then he finished off the last of the sandwich, shoving it into his mouth and biting off big pieces until it was all gone.
"Yeah, we can go down to the basement." Lori said, standing up. "Come on, grab your stuff so we can get started down there and get started. And Chaz, after the chips, no more snacks okay?"
As he went to step through the door, Chaz got stuck. He squirmed for a moment and then let out a frustrated sigh. The girls stood behind him, already getting a very good idea of what had happened.
"You're stuck again, aren't you?" Dana asked flatly.
"Yeah, kinda." Chaz replied.
"It looks like more than just 'kinda'." Lori said. "Okay, let's get you out. Dana, Carol, a little help?"
"Oh no. We already did it once. It's your turn Lori." Dana said, crossing her arms.
"It only fair." Carol added.
Lori sighed and stepped up behind Chaz. She pressed her hands flat against his back, feeling them sink in a little bit. It was like she was touching a memory foam mattress and she tried not to cringe while she began pushing him. However she didn't get much progress as her slippers wouldn't hold on the kitchen floor and she struggled to keep her footing. It started to look like she was walking in place while she pushed on Chaz's back, a frustrated look coming to her face.
"Oh come on! URGH…stupid slippers…. MMPH… come on… RGH… move darn it! Seriously Chaz… OOPH… you need to do… URMPH… something about your weight!"
"Hey it's not my fault!" Chaz said. "The doors in this house are just too narrow!"
"No Chaz, they're the same as the doors in our house." Dana told him. "Or any other house, for that matter. They just seem narrow because all the extra fat you got makes you wider!"
Chaz grumbled and tried to squirm his way through the door again, with no luck. Lori meanwhile tried to push Chaz using her back instead. She pressed against him, the back of her hair squishing flat against his back. The golden locks spread out, looking nearly twice as wide as usual. Lori frowned at the feel of her hair getting even more messed up, but kept pushing all the same.
"Okay, I think…. HHMPH… that he's moving a bit now." She said, gritting her teeth. "Just… URGH… a little more!"
She gave Chaz one more good push and he went through. The boy fell forward, letting out a cry as he tumbled down the stairs and landed on his butt at the bottom. The three girls winced as they heard him fall, looking to make sure he was alright. Seeing that he was getting to his feet already, they decided that he was fine and began heading downstairs as well.
A short while later, the four had settled themselves down and were busy studying. Lori had gotten some old cushions and placed them out on the floor for everyone. After they had gotten far enough to feel like they could take a break, they set their books aside. They sat and faced each other, finding something to talk about until it was time to get back to preparing for their upcoming exams.
"So, anyone have plans for the summer?" Lori asked. "I'm going to be heading over to Fairway Universityto scope out the area. You know, see what stores are around and stuff."
"Ooh, you know what would be really fun?" Carol asked. "We should all go on a trip together! To celebrate finishing high school!"
"We should hit the beach!" Dana suggested.
"I could take you to Great Lakes City in my new car and we could do all sorts of stuff!" Lori offered. "There's the zoo, the theater, plus they have some really nice restaurants up there."
"Count me in!" Chaz said. "I've been wanting to travel around and try eating at all kinds of different restaurants! There this one guy who streams from all over the country, showing off the delicious stuff he finds in different places. I've got a whole list of restaurants I want to eat at!"
"Are you kidding?" Dana asked, scoffing a little. "You eat enough at home as it is. Mom and Dad are not going to let you borrow the car so you can go on a pig-out tour!"
"It does sound like it wouldn't be in your best interest right now." Carol said. "You should try to moderate what you're eating, Chaz."
"She's literally right you know." Lori added. "Especially with all the eating contests you've entered recently."
"Yeesh, sorry I brought it up." Chaz grumbled. "Let's just talk about something else already."
"I have something I'd like to say." Carol stated, rubbing her arms with her hands. "It's kind of chilly in here. I think I can feel a draft."
"Yeah, the basement in my house has always been like that." Lori said.
"Well it might just be my imagination, but it feels like it's coming from near the washing machine." Carol told her, looking over towards that area. "Which is weird since there's no way a draft should be coming from there."
Lori, growing curious, went over to investigate the washing machine. She could feel a light breeze coming in from somewhere behind it, but couldn't figure out why. Taking out her phone, she used its light to check and saw a large crack in the wall going almost in a perfect line up from the floor. What's more she could see something on the wall, going over the crack, which had been painted over.
"That's weird." She muttered to herself.
She moved the washing machine aside so she could go in for a closer look. This gained the attention of the other three who all moved in to see what was going on. Lori had pushed the washer far enough away that she could get in between it and the wall. She was picking at the paint-covered object she had found, discovering it was an old-fashioned latch. Continuing with her efforts, she managed to get it loose and lifted it up.
"I think this is a door." She noted, looking around at the wall more and finding what looked like hinges. "Yeah, there's a little door back here! That's literally so crazy."
Lori pulled on the door, finding it stuck a bit from the paint on the hinges. She kept going, tugging on it until she finally got it open, revealing a tunnel on the other side. It was dark and Lori couldn't tell where it went. She sat back and looked over it with more curiosity than before. From what she could see, the door was about two feet tall and it went about a foot and a half across. But why it was there was beyond any reason that she could imagine. She looked to her friends and found they were just as fascinated by this discovery as she was.
"Where do you think it goes?" She asked them.
"Well the only way to find out would be to head in there and follow the tunnel." Carol noted. "But it looks kinda cramped in there. Would we fit?"
"I'm sure we could, we're all fairly slim girls." Lori pointed out.
"Not all of us." Dana said, gesturing to her brother. "Chaz won't fit."
Chaz frowned at his sister. "Well no one asked you, Dana. I bet I could get in there easy-peasy! And I say we go and see where it takes us!"
"I kinda want to see too." Carol admitted. "Who knows what we could find on the other side?"
"Well I've lived in this house my whole life and I literally never knew about this. So I'll be going first."
Lori leaned over and went to poke her head in through the entrance. Her hair brushed against the edges, the feeling annoying her a bit. She took a moment to try and flatten her messy locks, but they wouldn't stay in place. Letting out a sigh, she just kept going until she was halfway through. She was trying to get a better look at the tunnel using the light from her phone.
Carol waited a good ten seconds for Lori to keep moving. When she didn't, Carol reached out and pressed her hand firmly onto Lori's right butt cheek. She then gave her a shove, signaling for her to get a move on. Lori let out a small yelp of surprise and tried to look back at the one responsible, but her hair got in her face.
"Hey, whoever did that, keep your hands to yourself! That was literally rude!"
"Well get moving then." Carol said in return.
Lori continued into the tunnel, her hair brushing against the ceiling and the sides of it as she went. Carol followed after letting her have a little bit of a head start. Then Dana went to enter, but Chaz cut her off.
"Uh-uh, me next. I'll show you who can't fit." He said, kneeling down and starting to crawl in, only to get stuck almost immediately.
"Wow, you sure showed me." Dana said sarcastically. "You got stuck again, didn't you?"
"No, it's fine!" Chaz replied, trying to kick his legs on the floor to push himself free. After half of a minute he gave up however. "Okay, maybe not so much. I need you to push me through! There's enough room in here for me to crawl if I can just get through this tiny doorway!"
Dana pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. She grumbled to herself and got down on her knees, reaching out to push with both hands. The moment her hands made contact with Chaz's buttocks, they sank a bit, making Dana shudder.
"This feels so wrong! UGH!" She said, grimacing as she pushed. "And I'm… RMPH… not going to… NGH… be happy if you get… NMPH… more stuck from this! This is what… URGH… happens when you… HMPH… eat too much!"
"I won't! Just keep trying, I think it's working!"
Dana pulled her hands away, shaking them as if something nasty had gotten on them. She thought for a moment and then got an idea. Moving over to the washing machine, she repositioned it so the side was facing her brother, leaving a little room between them. Then she situated herself in the space, pressing her back flat on the machine and her feet onto Chaz's bottom. Again, she felt herself sinking in a bit, but at least it feel as weird as it had before.
"Ow! Hey that hurts!" Chaz complained. "Be gentler with me!"
"Quit whining! RRGH… This is the only… MMPH way I'm gonna… HRGH… get you in there!"
Putting every last ounce of strength that she had into her legs, Dana pushed Chaz through the doorway. She then relaxed for a few seconds, catching her breath while her brother started to move on and catch up with Lori and Carol. Then Dana reluctantly followed him, starting to get a bad feeling in her gut.
The four teenagers made their way through the mysterious tunnel. They didn't know how far they had traveled or how long they had been in there. But their eyes had adjusted to the darkness and they kept pressing forward. Lori started to slow down though, starting to feel a bit paranoid. She could swear that her hair was dragging more on the walls of the tunnel.
"Hey Lori, what's the hold up?" Carol called.
"I feel like the tunnel is getting smaller." Lori answered. "It's starting to freak me out a little."
"Well the sooner you start moving again, the sooner we can get out. And the sooner you get your butt out of my face."
Lori started to move forward again, trying to calm herself. Meanwhile, Chaz was also having a bit of trouble. Due to the limited space, he could only move so well with his large body. Behind him, Dana was scowling and resisting the urge to just slap his behind.
"Chaz, could you move it already?!" She snapped. "If you don't move your huge butt away from me, you're gonna regret it!"
"I can only go so fast right now!" Chaz said. "Carol is right in front of me, what am I supposed to do, crawl over her?"
"Dana, if you're worried about Chaz being to close, then maybe you should slow down and let him get further ahead." Carol called, turning to look back at the other two. "It's not like you have to be right up his… MMPH!"
Carol felt her left cheek press against something soft. When she looked forward again, she discovered that what she had bumped into was Lori, specifically her right buttock. Carol blushed angrily and backed away a little. This made it so Chaz also suddenly stopped and as a result, Dana's face ended up pressing into his butt as well.
"Lori if you aren't going to keep moving then why didn't you let someone else take the lead?" Carol asked a bit grouchily.
"Sorry, but there was a spider web!" Lori said, spitting a bit as she spoke. "It got into my hair! And my mouth! More importantly, did you just touch my butt again?!"
"It wasn't on purpose and it was your fault for stopping so suddenly!" Carol replied.
"Yeah." Dana said, pushing away from Chaz's rear end. "How about a warning the next time you need to stop short like that? It's bad enough we don't have a lot of space, I don't need to be getting a face full of Chaz's butt!"
Lori kept crawling, Carol giving her a second before she continued as well. Chaz followed and Dana waited to try and let him put a bit of distance between them. The four teens kept moving forward for minutes until Lori suddenly stopped again. Carol noticed this time and signaled for Chaz to stop as well. Dana nearly bumped into him again, having trouble seeing him in the darkness of the tunnel.
"What is it this time?" Carol asked.
"I see light." Lori answered, sounding a bit excited. "It's a way out!"
She crawled forward, the light at the end of the tunnel growing with each inch she moved. As she got closer, she saw what looked like a vent covering and reached out with one hand to touch it. Lori put a little pressure on the cover and it moved, the screws that held it in place braking from being so old and rusty. The cover fell to the floor with a noisy clatter that echoed and then Lori poked her head out to look around.
"I don't believe this." She said. "You guys, I think we're at the school! That little door in my basement leads all the way to the high school!"
Lori crawled out and got to her feet, dusting herself off. Then she started to run her fingers through her hair, trying to get the webs out of it. Carol crawled out next, smoothing out her skirt as she stood. When Chaz reached the exit, he got wedged half of the way out. He let out a sigh and started to try and push himself, placing his hands flat on the wall.
"Aw man, not again!" he complained. "Hey Dana, could you give me a push?"
"I don't have much of a choice." Dana replied. "If I don't get you out of here, I'm stuck too!"
Dana scooted as close as she could to Chaz and pressed her hands on his buttocks. She started to push, gritting her teeth and trying not to think about how much the whole situation sucked. Her hands were sinking into his bottom, the only thing keeping her from feeling it fully was the fabric of his yoga pants.
"You owe me…RGH… for this big time!" She told him. "If I had known… MMPH… that this was how… HURGH… we'd be spending today, then I'd… OOPH… would have just stayed… NNGH… at home!"
Meanwhile, Carol was watching Lori struggle with her hair. As she clawed her fingers through it, she only made it messier. When she stopped, she looked to Carol with an almost pitiful look on her face.
"Did I get them all?" She asked. "Are there any left?"
"Maybe." Carol said with a shrug, turning to help Chaz. "It's hard to tell with your hair being all over the place. Check again just to be sure."
Lori whimpered and went back to running her fingers through her hair. Carol knelt down in front of Chaz and offered him her hands. He took them and she began to pull, closing her eyes tight and leaning back as much as she could.
"Come on… HNGH… you can do it Chaz! MMPH… you got in there… RMPH… so you can get out!"
Between Dana's pushing and Carol's pulling, Chaz popped out of the hole. He fell onto the floor with a grunt and behind him, Dana poked her head out. She took a deep breath of air, as if she had just surfaced from a dive underwater.
"Finally! It was so stuffy back there! I was starting to feel claustrophobic!"
Dana crawled out and stood up, arching her back and stretching her arms. She joined the others and noticed that they had all gone silent. Each of them was staring in total disbelief at their surroundings. Dana started to look around as well and her jaw dropped.
The school looked like it had been through some sort of disaster. It was definitely their high school. They had no doubts about that. But it looked completely destroyed. The walls were cracked and the paint was all faded. Some of the windows were boarded up and the ones that weren't had all been shattered. Doors were either missing or broken into pieces as if someone had smashed them repeatedly with a sledgehammer. The lights were all off and water was leaking from the ceiling in places, puddling onto the floor.
"What happened?" Carol asked, sounding frightened. "We were just here yesterday!"
"I literally have no idea." Lori said, taking a step forward and peeking into a nearby classroom. "But this is our school alright. I can see Mrs. Goldberg's tacky flower vase on her desk."
"Did we travel through time?" Chaz asked before suddenly letting out a gasp. "Or maybe we crossed into another dimension! One where the zombie apocalypse happened! That would make so much sense! This whole place looks like a scene out of The Stalking Dead!"
Dana slapped Chaz on the back of his head. "Shut up you dork! I'm freaked out enough by this as it is!"
"I literally doubt there was a zombie apocalypse, Chaz." Lori said, rolling her eyes a little. "But I do want to figure out what happened here. Maybe if we look around we'll find something."
Lori began to head down the hall, looking into the classrooms as she went. The others followed her, Carol doing so hesitantly. She looked more afraid than the others and kept looking behind them at the opening to the tunnel.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" She asked. "It can't be safe here. We should go back."
"No way." Dana said stubbornly. "I am not going back into that tunnel. Besides, Chaz would get stuck in it again and what if we can't get him out next time?"
"Yeah, that wasn't exactly fun for me you know!" Chaz said. "And why should we use the tunnel anyway? We can just walk back to Lori's house when we're done looking around here."
They continued to walk down the ruined hallway, looking into each room as they went. As they got to the end they rounded a corner and were once again shocked with what they found. The entryway to the next hall was in bad condition as well, but for a different reason. There were scorch marks on the edges of the doorframe and pieces of broken glass, splintered wood and chunks of the wall all over the floor. The metal that made up the frame was bent outwards a little, as if it had been pushed with tremendous force.
"Dude, did someone set an explosion off here?" Chaz asked.
"It looks like it." Lori replied. "But why?"
"Maybe the door was stuck and they had to get out in a hurry?" Dana suggested.
Lori took a closer look and looked into the next hallway. There were lockers lining the wall on one side, going down all the way to the other end. Most of the lockers were missing their doors and the ones which still had them were very rusty. Dana joined her, poking her head through the hole. She then climbed through carefully, lifting one leg over the lower half of the door and then the other. As she began to head down the hall, Lori followed her and they checked the rooms along the way again.
"Do you think anyone is around?" Lori asked, turning to face the others.
"Are you kidding?" Carol asked. "Of course not! This place looks like it should be condemned! We're not going to find anyone here! We shouldn't be here!"
"Well we can find our way out then." Chaz said, stepping up to the broken door. "Come on, the sooner we get moving, the sooner we can leave."
Chaz stood in front of the hole in the door, the opening more or less at the level of his stomach. He leaned over and stuck his arms and head through, pulling his upper body into the hole. As his feet left the ground he got halfway through, the width of his body filling the space entirely. He kicked his legs to try and wiggle through the rest of the way, but felt the splinters of the wood poking at him. They didn't break the skin, but he couldn't get any further through, the flesh of his sides and belly squishing around the edges of the hole.
"Oh no… I got stuck! Again!"
"Yeah, so I noticed." Carol said, shaking her head a little.
From Carol's perspective, it was quite an odd sight. It almost looked like someone had mounted a hunting trophy on the door. Except that instead of the head, they had used the lower half instead. They way Chaz's legs dangled beneath his large butt, with some of his stomach and side fat squished against the wood was almost comical. It would have been enough to get Carol to crack a smile were the situation not so serious.
"So why didn't anyone try to open the door instead of crawling through the hole?" She asked, crossing her arms.
"I don't know!" Chaz answered, kicking his legs again. "Just give me a push already!"
Carol sighed and stepped closer to him. She slapped his rear really quick to make him stop kicking, making his buttock jiggle a little. Then she pressed her hands firmly against his bottom. Planting her feet firmly on the floor, she started to push.
"HRGH… you know Chaz…. MMPH…. This is starting to get really… URGH… annoying! You think you'd know… UMPH… better than to just… NNGH… try and fit through any space that looks… ARGH… so small! You're pretty... HRNG… darn big and… OOPH… heavy!"
"Gee, I hadn't realized. Thanks for the update." Chaz grumbled from his side of the door, wincing from the pressure of her hands. "Hey Lori, Dana… how about some help? Lori? Dana?"
Chaz looked down the hall, but neither of them was in sight. He knew he had just seen them only a few moments before and tried calling for them again. This time he got their attention, the two girls stepping out of a classroom two doors down. They came back over to Carol and Chaz, the boy frowning at them as they got closer.
"Where did you two go?"
"We thought we heard something in that classroom." Lori explained. "But it was just the wind blowing the blinds around."
"Well I could use some help over here if you don't mind." Chaz replied.
"If we have to." Dana sighed. "Although I guess this can't be worse than having to push you."
"Could the two of you please hurry and help out?!" Carol called from her side of the door, switching to pushing Chaz with her back, digging her elbows into his buttocks. "There is no reason I should be doing this by myself!"
Lori and Dana stood on either side of Chaz, each grabbing one of his arms. Then they each placed one of their feet to the side of the door and began to pull. Meanwhile, Carol continued with her efforts from her side, her elbows and shoulders sinking into Chaz's soft flesh.
"Are you both… URGH… trying on your end?" She asked, gritting her teeth.
"Yes… MMPH… we are!" Dana snapped.
"This isn't… HRGH… so easy… UGH… you know!" Lori added.
The three continued to push and pull Chaz for the next minute with no luck. Carol ended up becoming so frustrated with the task that she stopped pushing and walked away. She went about ten feet away from the door and then turned back. Letting out a cry of rage, she charged straight for Chaz and slammed her shoulder into his behind. The force was enough to give him the push he needed to pop through the hole. He tumbled out and across the floor, Lori and Dana stepping back to get out of the way.
"Ow." Chaz whined, sitting up. "That sucked."
"Well next time check to see if you will fit before you try crawling through a hole in a door." Lori said.
"No, that won't do." Carol corrected. "Next time we find a door with a hole blown into it we open it instead!" She spat, kicking the lower half of the door open and stepping through. "See how easy it is? Now let's get going. I want out of this place ASAP!"
Carol strolled past them and made her way down the hall. The others followed, Lori making her way out front as they proceeded. They reached the end of that hall and were about to turn another corner when Lori suddenly stopped them. She turned to face them and held one finger up to her lips before she peeked around the corner again.
"This is bad." Lori whispered to them. "There are some people over there. It looks like they're trying to break into one of the rooms!"
The three other teens peeked with Lori and saw a small group of people not too far down the hall. There were five of them, all dressed in what looked like biker clothing. One of them was trying to pry open a closed door with a crowbar while the others stood behind him.
Not wanting to take any chances, the four teens quickly scurried into the room closest behind them, quietly opening and shutting the door as they went. It was very dark in the room and Lori had to use her phone for light. Carol used hers as well, aiming it away from the door to be safe.
"What do we do now?" She whispered in a mild panic.
"I have no idea. This is literally not what I was expecting to do today!" Lori whispered back.
"What were they doing?" Chaz asked quietly. "Do you think they're the ones who trashed the school?"
"Who cares?" Dana hissed. "We need to get the heck out of here before they find us! Who knows what they'll do?"
"Let's not wait to find out." Carol said. "I think I know where we are. This is one of the janitor's rooms. If it's the one I think it is, there should be a hatch right up above our heads."
Carol aimed the light of her phone to the ceiling and looked for the corners. In one of them they saw a small hatch. She smiled and then looked around and also found a folding ladder that was just high enough to let them reach the ceiling.
"That's our way out." She told them. "Come on, let's go."
"Wait, wait, wait." Dana said. "And just what are we going to do about him?" She asked, pointing to Chaz. "There is absolutely no way he'll fit through that tiny opening. And I refuse to let him try!"
"Okay, fine. Chaz can stay behind and we'll all go through." Lori said.
"What? Why do I have to stay behind all alone?" Chaz asked. "Can't one of you just hang back here with me?"
"Don't worry Chaz, we'll come back and get you once we find our way outside." Lori told him as she set up the ladder. "Just sit tight and stay quiet, okay?"
Lori began up the ladder. Carol followed her, waiting for Lori to open the hatch. When she flipped it open she found it led to the roof. As Lori climbed up and stuck her head through the hatch, her hair bulged out, looking like a yellow pom-pom. She popped her head out and started to climb the rest of the way when she felt herself getting caught. Looking down, Lori found that her midsection wasn't quite fitting through the opening.
"Oh come on. What am I caught on?!" She complained.
Back on the ladder, Carol looked up and noticed that a bit of flab was sticking out of Lori's shirt. She smirked and held back a giggle as she figured out the answer to Lori's question. Then she tapped Lori's leg to gain her attention.
"Looks like Chaz isn't the only one who put on some weight recently." She noted. "Been binge eating chocolate again, Lori?"
"No, I have not!" Lori snipped from outside the hatch. "Oh, wait… um, actually…"
-Flashback, the previous week-
Lori sat on her bed, a large box of chocolates by her side. The lid had been tossed onto the floor and more than half of the chocolate was already eaten. Lori grabbed another few of them and popped them into her mouth, chewing them noisily and swallowing before letting out a satisfied sigh.
-End of flashback-
"Okay, so maybe Bobby sent me a nice, big box of chocolates. And maybe I sorta… ate them all in one day." Lori admitted. "But it couldn't have put on that much weight, could I?"
"You tell me." Carol said, reaching up to poke at Lori's exposed belly button and jiggling the flab a bit. "Does that feel like not that much?"
Lori giggled from the tickling sensation. "Hey! Cut that out! If I slip off of the ladder, I'm going to land on you!" She warned. "Head back down. This isn't going to work. I literally refuse to try and squeeze through this if it's going to be a pain."
Carol stepped down and Lori squeezed her belly out of the opening. As she came down the ladder, her hair got caught again, pulling upwards as she tried to get her head through the hatch. She twisted her head, trying to get her hair through, grunting and grumbling while she did so.
"Stupid, big, thick hair!" She spat.
Lori kept pulling, using her hand to start tugging on her golden locks as well. By the time she pulled free, her hair was messier than ever, making her look a little like the bride of Frankenstein. The sight was enough to make the others snicker.
"Okay, so that plan isn't happening. I literally cannot get through that hatch." She told the others while fixing her hair as best she could. "Anyone else have any ideas?"
The other three all shook their heads. Lori leaned back against the wall and sighed. She began weighing their options in her head. The only safe way out was not an option for all of them and she knew they weren't going back to that hidden tunnel that had brought them there. More importantly, there was no guarantee that if they did go back the way they came they would be safe.
"The way I see it, we need to fight." She continued. "There's only five of those guys and four of us. It's not like they have us outnumbered."
"Are you crazy?!" Carol asked. "We can't fight them! They'll destroy us!"
"Not if we fight as a group." Chaz said. "I don't like the idea much either, but I'd like it less if they got the jump on us while we're trying to find another way out. And besides, there's tons of stuff here we could use to defend ourselves."
He grabbed a plunger that was sitting on the floor and swung it out, as if he were trying to jab an invisible foe with it. The girls all looked at him incredulously, Dana shaking her head at him. She went to the wall where several tools were hanging and grabbed a wrench and a hammer. Then she tossed the hammer at Chaz, who stepped out of the way and ducked for good measure, letting the hammer hit the floor with a loud thud.
"What is wrong with you?!" Chaz spat. "You almost hit my head with that!"
"You were supposed to catch it, genius." Dana retorted. "It would make a much better weapon than that stupid thing."
"Don't tell me how to protect myself!" Chaz replied.
"Can you protect yourself?" Dana challenged. "With how out of shape you are, you couldn't out-muscle anybody and you can hardly run for very long either!"
"Both of you be quiet!" Carol hissed. "I don't want to fight, but if I have to then I'm going to do it the smart way! So no making any unnecessary noise! We'll get ourselves caught before we have a chance to do anything!"
Carol grabbed a nearby broom and broke off the part with the bristles with a swift kick. She then twirled it around and smiled, satisfied with her choice. Meanwhile Lori had found two things that she considered useful in the closet. One was a container of floor wax, which she planned to put to very good use. The other was something none of the others had expected to see sitting around with all the maintenance and cleaning equipment.
"Why are there golf clubs in the janitor's closet?" Carol asked.
"Duh, the janitor is literally a golfer." Lori said.
"Come to think of it I'm pretty sure I saw him up on the roof one time when I left school late." Chaz mentioned. "Maybe he hits balls off the roof?"
"We can talk about what the janitor does in his free time later." Dana cut in. "What are we going to do about those guys we saw in the hall? I am not going to just charge at them like some crazy idiot."
"Dana has a point. I like the idea of catching them by surprise, but we can't all sneak up on them at once." Carol said. "And I wouldn't dare ask anyone to go in alone."
"Leave getting their attention to me." Lori announced, pulling a five iron out of the golf bag. "The rest of you just be ready for when I bring them to you."
The four teens left the room and went to the corner of the hall again. Lori peeked around and saw the five bandits were still trying to break their way into whatever room was in front of them. None of them noticed her and she cautiously stepped out and got into position. She found a good spot and set down the cap from the container of floor wax, to use as an impromptu golf tee. Then she set down a ball on top of it and readied her club. After lining up her shot, she swung at the ball, arcing it straight down the hall and beaming one of the bandits off the side of the head.
"OW!" the injured bandit called out, placing his hand on the area where the ball hit. "What the heck was that?!"
"I think it was a golf ball!" another bandit answered.
"What? Why?! What kind of an idiot golfs indoors?!" The first one shouted, glaring in Lori's direction.
"Oops, silly me." Lori said. "I forgot to yell 'fore'!"
"Get her!" The first bandit ordered.
As the five men charged at her, Lori quickly dashed down to where her friends were waiting. As the first of the bandits rounded the corner, Chaz slammed his belly into him, knocking the man backwards into the others. Carol took advantage of this and swung her broom handle at the leg of the bandit nearest to her, landing a solid hit on his knee. Dana leaped out at another, hitting him in the shoulder with her wrench.
The group of bandits were all surprised by the teens for a few seconds. But then they continued to advance on them, looking angrier than before. Lori's group backed away and then turned to run. The bandits gave pursuit, not aware they were being lured into a trap. Just a short distance head of them the teens had set aside a container of floor wax, which they had already opened. Carol was the first to get to it and waited for the others to pass her. Once they had, Carol grabbed the floor wax and started to dump it out just as the bandits got to her position.
"No running in the halls, boys." She said with a sassy grin. "It's dangerous."
Carol backed away quickly, waving the container back and forth, continuing to spill the wax until the container was empty. The bandits started to slip, save for one at the very back who had seen what was happening just in time to avoid the mess. The other four all either fell onto their backs or their sides, sliding on the floor as they landed. Once they had fallen, Lori's group went onto the attack again.
"Geronimo!" Chaz cried, jumping on the nearest bandit, landing on abdomen and knocking the wind out of him. "Eat plunger, jerk-face!"
"Please don't." The bandit wheezed. "You don't know if that thing is clean!"
"Not my problem!" Chaz replied, sticking the plunger over the bandit's face.
Meanwhile, Lori and Carol were each whacking a bandit on their heads with their respective weapons while Dana struck the other in the back repeatedly with her wrench. The only bandit still standing glared at them, clenching his teeth while his buddies were being thrashed. He wanted to lunge at the teens, but knew it was likely to go poorly given the situation.
"This isn't fair!" He spat. "You all have weapons! We're the only ones who should be using weapons!"
"Oh shut up, creep." Dana retorted. "It's more than fair! Three of us are girls and we aren't taking chances that you and your loser friends won't try anything funny with us!"
"I can't speak for the rest, but I wouldn't touch any of you." The bandit replied. "Your attitude stinks and I only like natural blondes. And the only natural blonde in your group isn't that cute anyway. Her head is too big."
Carol scoffed. "Rude! My head is not big!"
"I wasn't talking about you. Your hair is not natural blonde, the fathead's is."
Now Lori looked offended. She gripped her club tightly, her knuckles starting to go white. If not for the wax on the floor, she would have lunged at him and given him a strong whack right over the head. Instead she pulled out another golf ball from her pocket and threw it at him, missing as he ducked down.
"My head is not big, you jerk!" She hissed. "It's just my hair! It's really poofy!"
Lori got ready to throw another ball at him, but she noticed the other four were moving again. Three of them had slid themselves to the other side of the spilt floor wax and were starting to get to their feet again. Dana, Carol and Lori started to back away while Chaz struggled to his feet to join them. The bandit he had been sitting on had managed to get a pocket knife out and had nearly cut him before he got away.
"Okay, we may want to change up our strategy." Carol said. "These guys are tough."
"So I noticed." Dana commented dryly. "Who's bright idea was it to fight them again?"
"Shut up." Lori said. "But yeah, these guys aren't going down so easily. We should try to get away from them. Dana, you and Chaz try to find a classroom with an open window and get out that way. Carol and I will by you some time."
"Huh, but why?" Chaz asked. "Shouldn't we stick together?"
"We will, somewhere else!" Dana said, starting to push him with both hands to make him move. "Now get your big butt in gear! URGH… jeez your heavy!"
Chaz reluctantly turned and began to head down the hall as quickly as he could, Dana pulling ahead of him. The bandits went to follow them, but were cut off by Lori and Carol, using their weapons to block the way. The girls stood back to back, keeping their eyes on their enemies and their weapons at the ready. Carol's head sank back into Lori's hair, until only her purple hairband and her lower locks were visible.
"Please tell me you have an idea on how to get us out of this." Carol whispered.
"I could, but that would be lying." Lori replied. "Let's just try to trip them up some more and then we can follow Chaz and Dana."
"That might be easier said than done." Carol noted, glancing back at Lori. "They have us outnumbered. If we're not careful, this may go poorly for us."
"Yeah, I know that. Got any other obvious things you'd like to point out?"
"You need to get a haircut, badly. Your hair looks like a big bird nest." Carol said, smirking to herself. "I wouldn't be surprised if there were some eggs sitting in there."
"Would you just shut up and focus?" Lori replied. "They're coming for us."
Two of the bandits were advancing on Lori and Carol. They grabbed at their weapons, trying to take them away. Lori gripped her club tightly and gave the bandit in front of her a headbutt to the nose, making him recoil. Carol swung her fist at her opponent, hitting his shoulder. He retaliated with his own fist, hitting her in the side.
Meanwhile, Chaz and Dana had gotten a fair distance away. They checked the classrooms as they went, Chaz spotting one with an open window just before they reached the end of the hall. He ran to the door, Dana right behind him. Just as she reached the door, Dana began pushing Chaz with both hands, squeezing him slowly through the doorway.
"We don't have time for this, Chaz!" Dana hissed. "What are you waiting for? Move it already!"
Chaz stumbled through the doorway, Dana entering the room behind him and taking a quick look around. She spotted the open window and smiled. Then she turned to see if anyone was following them, gripping her wrench should she need to use it.
"Quick, go out the window." She urged Chaz, pushing him towards it with her free hand. "I'll be right behind you."
She kept pushing Chaz to the window, checking over her shoulder as they went. Chaz went to jump out head first, but suddenly jolted to a stop just as his waist reached the opening. Taking a look back, he found himself stuck again and started to wriggle his body to try and get free. It didn't seem to be working, but he kept trying all the same.
Back inside the room, Dana was about to go through the window as well. However she was still looking back at the doorway, hoping to see either Lori and Carol come through. She ended up running into Chaz's bottom, bouncing off of him and stumbling backwards. Dana waved her arms, keeping herself from losing her balance. Then she saw that Chaz was stuck and glared at him in annoyance.
"Seriously?! I just told you we don't have time for thi…."
The sound of voices in the hallway caught Dana's attention. Lori, Carol and the bandits were all throwing insults at one another while still in the midst of fighting. Dana looked at the door and from what she could hear, it sounded like they were getting closer. A panicked look came to her face and she quickly started to try and push Chaz the rest of the way out the window with her hands firmly planted on his hindquarters.
"Come on… URGH… this is the worst time… MMPH… for this to happen!" She complained, struggling to move him. "Come on… OOPH… come on… RNGH… COME ON, DANG IT!"
Finding that she wasn't getting anywhere with her efforts, Dana tried to use more force and began to ram into Chaz with her shoulder. She felt herself bounce off of his bottom again, but didn't hesitate to repeat the action. At this point she realized that this new tactic was even less effective and just went back to trying to push him through.
"Chaz, suck in your gut!" She called to him as she began pushing again with both hands. "You… URGH… need to… MMPH… or else we're both… HRNGH… trapped here!"
Dana pushed with all her might, her feet starting to slip on the floor as she put her legs into the effort more. She felt herself continuing to slip on the linoleum. Trying to avoid losing her footing, Dana turned her feet sideways a little hoping it would make enough of a difference.
Back out in the hallway, Lori and Carol were having trouble dealing with the bandits. The fifth had made his way across the floor wax and had joined them in the fight. If not for their long reach weapons, the two girls may not have been able to do so well fending the group off. Each side had taken their share of lumps, Lori and Carol starting to get worn down. But they still stood their ground and had managed to keep even one of their enemies from getting past them so far.
"What is wrong with you guys?" The fifth bandit, presumably the leader, shouted. "They're just a couple of bratty teenagers! You shouldn't be having any trouble with them at all!"
"But they have better weapons than us!" one of them complained.
"Yeah, they can hit us from further away!" Said another, pointing at Carol. "She almost poked my eye out!"
The boss bandit growled and stepped forward. "Let me show you idiots how this is done."
He lunged at the girls, letting out a cry as he swung out his arms at them. Lori and Carol just glanced at each other and then jabbed with the handles of their weapons. They caught him under his arms, the fabric of his shirt getting stuck on the ends of their weapons. Still moving simultaneously, they stepped forward and thrusted their weapons outward, sending the bandit leader flying. He landed on the wax and skidded back to the other side, groaning in pain.
The other four bandits looked at their leader, stunned by how he had been sent flying. Carol and Lori took advantage of their distraction and tackled the ones closest to each of them, pushing them onto the wax as well. The remaining two quickly tried to attack them, grabbing their weapons while they were wide open. However, Lori gave her opponent a headbutt to the face, making him let go of her club. Carol meanwhile kicked her enemy in the shin and while he reacted to that, she socked him in the eye.
Both the bandits stepped back, one placing his hand over his eye while the over did the same to his bleeding nose. Carol and Lori raised their weapons up high and swung down on their respective opponents, knocking them backwards and making them step onto the wax. Then Lori and Carol gave them each one more jab, forcing them to slide and lose their balance.
"We'd better get moving and catch up with Dana and Chaz." Carol said. "Do you know which room they went into?"
Lori shook her head. "I didn't see, but if we keep our eyes peeled, we should spot them soon enough."
They turned and rushed down the hall while the bandits were struggling to get up on their feet again. As they moved, they checked the doors to the classrooms to see if Dana and Chaz were inside. Just a few doors away from them was the room they were seeking, Dana still attempting to get Chaz out the window, a roll of his belly fat was pressing against the rim.
"Come on… UGH… already, Chaz!" Dana griped, pushing on him with her right and left shoulder. "I told you… NGH… to suck in your gut!"
"I am!" Chaz replied.
"Liar!" Dana spat, stopping and pointing to his gut. "I can see you still have plenty left you can try to suck in!"
"Hey I'm trying my best!" Chaz called from outside the window, crossing his arms. "Maybe you're the one who isn't trying hard enough!"
The sound of their voices caught the attention of Lori and Carol as they were nearing the room. They rushed inside and shut the door behind them, quickly starting to grab desks and carry them over to make a barricade. Lori turned to face Dana, frowning when she saw what was going on.
"Are you literally serious?" Lori asked. "We don't have time for this! Hurry up and get him through that window!"
"I've been trying to!" Dana snapped in return. "But he's stuck good this time! How about you come over here and lend me a hand?"
Lori went over to Dana's side and took a look at Chaz, shaking her head as she noted how badly wedged in he was. Dana went back to pushing with her right hand and left shoulder while Lori began using her left hand and right shoulder. While they pushed, the two faced each other, Lori's hair pressing against Chaz's behind and getting into her face.
"Dang it… URGH… why is he so… MMPH… heavy?!" Lori asked, blowing at her hair to get it out of her face.
"The better question… NGH… is why you thought it was a good… HRGH… idea to go out the window!" Dana replied.
"We had to get… NMPH… away from those guys! Or did you… OOMPH… want them to catch us?!"
"They wouldn't have… HNGH… known we were there if… MMPH… we hadn't attacked them! Another… RGH… great idea of yours!"
"Hey I didn't hear you coming up with any better ideas!" Lori argued as she stopped pushing and blew her hair out of her face again. "What should we have done? We couldn't get up on the roof."
"We could have gone back the way we came!" Dana pointed out, also no longer pushing. "You know, in the direction where there weren't any dangerous people?!"
"Okay, first of all, there is no way we could know that they wouldn't have found us anyway. And second, the way we came was that creepy tunnel and we'd just have to try and get Chaz into it again. If we get out of the school, we can just go right back to my house."
"We don't even know if it's safe outside of the school!" Dana snapped.
"At least there's more space outside! To run away and hide!" Lori countered.
A frustrated cry sounded over by the door. Dana and Lori turned to see Carol fuming at them, both hands balled into fists. She lifted her hand and swung her arm to the side, glaring at the other girls fiercely.
"Step aside, NOW!" She ordered.
Suddenly, she began charging at them. Just before she reached them, both Lori and Dana stepped out of the way. Carol leaped into the air and rammed her right elbow into Chaz's behind. Chaz went the rest of the way through the window and tumbled across the ground, landing flat on his back.
"I'm okay!" He called from outside, raising one hand to give a thumbs up.
"Good!" Carol said, placing her hands on her hips and then glancing at Lori and Dana. "Now if the two of you are done wasting time, I'd like to get out of here."
Carol began climbing out of the window and went over to help Chaz up onto his feet. Lori and Dana followed, Dana going first and Lori afterwards. The four teens began to walk alongside the school, keeping their heads low to avoid being seen through the windows. They found that the outside of the school was looking just as unkempt as the inside. The grass was very tall and there vines growing up around the school in places. Some of the windows were broken and bits of glass could be seen on the ground as they walked.
"What the heck happened?" Carol asked while looking around. "It didn't look like this earlier."
"I literally know what you mean." Lori said. "It looks crazy around here. Look at that!"
Lori pointed up at what would have been the corner of the building. Only the corner was gone. A large piece of the school was missing, looking as though it had fallen in on itself. The teens all gaped at the sight, none of them understanding what could have caused that to happen. They continued around the school until they reached the parking lot where they found something even more shocking awaiting them.
"Oh…my… gosh…" Carol whispered.
The schools parking lot was surrounded with tall grass, just like the school itself was. There were some deer grazing off in the distance and a moose doing the same not too far from them. There were wild birds such as Cardinals and Song Sparrows flying about, landing and pecking at the ground. The sound of a woodpecker pecking a nearby tree could be heard and there were some Mourning Doves building a nest in another one. But the sight that astonished them most of all was not the wildlife in the parking lot, but the cars themselves.
There weren't more than a dozen vehicles parked there at the moment. But each and every one of them had been stripped down to just the frame. What's more, they were all looking very rusty, as if they had been left there like that for months. Carol went over to check the nearest one and found a racoon had made it into its home. She backed away quickly and rejoined the others, looking around again at the other animals.
"How did this happen? It's like nature started taking the area back."
"I'm telling you, the apocalypse happened! I've seen this stuff in movies!" Chaz exclaimed.
"Chaz, that literally makes no sense." Lori told him, rolling her eyes. "Everything was normal not even an hour ago. There's no way the world ended so fast without any of us noticing."
"It's gotta be that tunnel we crawled through! It took us through time or into a different dimension or something!" Chaz replied.
Chaz, that stuff is not real. You watch too many movies." Dana said, her voice condescending.
"Well how else can you explain how different everything looks?" Chaz asked, crossing his arms.
"I don't know! I just want to get back to Lori's house and…"
At that moment the sound of a wolf howling in the distance reached their ears. The four teens stepped closer to each other, all of them looking scared by the noise. Then another howl sounded, followed by another and then another. That's when they all broke into a run, Lori pulling out her phone.
"I'm literally calling the police." She announced.
"What good will that do?" Chaz asked. "The world ended! There are no more police!"
"We'll see about that." Lori replied, dialing the number. "Hey, it's ringing!"
"See Chaz?" Dana asked. "Your stupid 'the world is over' theory is wrong!"
"Shut up! I could have been right!"
"Both of you shut up!" Lori said, furrowing her brow. "I'm talking to someone! Yes, sorry about that. I'd like to report some people literally breaking into the Royal Woods High School… yes, there were five of them and they had weapons…. Thanks, that would be great! You too, bye." She ended the call and gave her friends a confident smile. "Those jerks are literally in for it."
A short while later, back inside of the high school, the five bandits were recovering from the fight. A couple of them had gone to look for Lori and her friends, but had no idea where they had gone and rejoined the others. Their leader decided not to waste any time and had his men grab everything they had gathered during their time inside of the school. Each of them had a collection of snack foods, bottles of juice, soda and water all stolen from vending machines. They also had some art supplies taken out of the hallway closet they had been breaking into earlier. With their ill-gotten goods in hand, they made for the front doors of the school.
As the bandits opened the front doors of the school, they were met with an unexpected sight. A large number of police officers had them surrounded. About a dozen were standing by their cruisers, holding up their handguns, aimed at the five of them. Closer to the stairs were another eight, all equipped with riot shields and stun rods. Towards the back of the group, an officer raised a megaphone to address them.
"We have you surrounded. Drop everything you're carrying and put your hands in the air!"
Finding themselves unable to do anything else, the bandits obeyed. Once they had dropped their items and raised up their hands, the police with riot shields moved in, forming a circle around them while five of the other offices approached with handcuffs ready. The officers began to search them for weapons and then cuffed them all, leading them back to their cruisers.
"This was a stupid idea." One of the bandits muttered. "We should've gone to Flips and raided his store."
"Shut up, you idiot!" The bandit leader snapped.
Meanwhile, Lori's group had managed to get back to her house. The four teens all came to a stop on the front porch, each panting to catch their breath. Lori leaned on the railway and Dana sat on the step. Carol stood slightly hunched over, resting her hands on her knees and Chaz had turned and plopped flat onto his back, his large belly wobbling slowly like a Jell-o mold.
After a few minutes, they had recovered from their running and they situated themselves more comfortably. The girls all sat side by side on the step while Chaz just stayed on his back on the grass. Now that they were safe and able to calm themselves, their minds turned back to the unexpected experience they had all endured.
"I just don't get it." Dana said. "What the heck happened to the school? It almost looked like a completely different building!"
"I know, right?" Lori added. "And to think there's a tunnel in my basement that leads there! Freaky!"
"Well your house looks normal." Carol noted. "So did a lot of the places we ran by on the way back. But the school looked like a disaster! What could have caused that?"
"Beats me." Lori said with a shrug. "Whatever it is should literally be on the news though. I bet if we check we could find something."
Lori took out her phone to see if the local news feed had anything on the high school. Carol did the same, as did Dana. Although she wasn't quite as focused as the two blondes. Dana set her phone down into her lap after a minute and turned to look at Lori.
"Hey, um… sorry about yelling at you earlier. I was just freaking out because of everything that was happening."
"I'm sorry too." Lori replied, looking up from her own phone. "I was literally super worried about all of us and just wanted to get out of there safely."
"Since the two of you are apologizing, any chance you could tell me that you're sorry?" Carol asked, giving them both a soft glare. "I had to barricade that classroom by myself, while you two were busy arguing, and then I got Chaz unstuck from that window."
Lori and Dana each offered Carol a sheepish smile and apologized. Carol smiled and went back to looking at her phone, Lori and Dana each following suit. Chaz sat up and took off his cap, wiping some sweat from his brow.
"Hey, Lori. Think I could get a soda? All that running made me thirsty."
Dana scowled and got up to step over to him. She then grabbed a handful of Chaz's belly and jiggled it back and forth harshly.
"You have enough sugar in your diet as it is! You don't need anymore! Drink vitamin water or something!"
Lori looked down sadly at her own belly. She lifted her top enough expose her midriff and placed her hand on the bit of flab that was there. As she gave it a little tug, kicking herself for allowing herself to gain even that much extra weight.
"Yeah, a little time at the gym wouldn't hurt Chaz." Lori said, letting go of her belly. "I can go with you and we can work out together. It'll be fun."
"You have a weird definition of 'fun', Lori." Chaz said.
"There's nothing wrong with enjoying the gym, Chaz." Dana told him before looking to Lori. "Lori happens to enjoy taking care of herself. She's proud of her looks. Oh, and that reminds me… I also owe you an apology for calling your hair a bird's nest before. Sorry."
"It's literally no big deal. Don't worry about it, Dana." Lori told her, running her fingers through her hair. "With how big and thick my hair is, it kinda looks like one anyway."
As she said that, a bird flew in and landed atop her head. It began to try and settle into Lori's hair, but had some trouble with her thick golden strands. Lori waved her hands at the bird, scaring it off.
"Shoo! My head is not a place for you to lay your eggs!" Lori shouted.
The other three laughed at the sight, making Lori blush a little. She waited for them to finish, trying not to be angry with them. When they stopped, they were all a little out of breath again.
"That was so funny!" Chaz said, wiping a mirthful tear from his eye. "You should've seen yourself!"
"I almost took a pic of you." Carol admitted. "But I was too busy laughing to get a good one."
"You really do need to do something about your hair, Lori." Dana said. "Even birds think it's a nest!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll be getting it cut in a couple days." Lori said, putting her hands on her hips. "Now if you're all done with poking fun at me, let's head inside and find something to do."
"Um, don't we still have to finish studying?" Carol pointed out.
"Oh, right. I literally forgot all about that." Lori said. "Although with whatever happened to the school, we may not have to worry so much about it."
"Nah, knowing the teachers, they'll find some way to make us still take finals." Chaz griped. "Like make us do them in the middle school or something."
"Well either way, it won't hurt to finish what we started." Carol said, heading to the door. "Let's get back to work."
Lori got the door for her and then stepped inside herself. Chaz followed, but as he stepped through the door, he found himself getting caught in it again. Dana, who was standing right behind him at the time, shook her head and then got ready to help him get free.
"This is really getting old, Chaz." She said, starting to push with her right shoulder and her left hand. "You… URGH… really need to… MMPH… take Lori up on… NGH… her offer to go to the gym!"
"Do I have to?" Chaz asked.
"I dunno…UMPH… do you want to… HRGH… keep getting stuck like this?" Dana asked, feeling Chaz slowly moving through the doorway. "Because I don't…. OOPH… plan to keep… UGH… doing this for you!"
Chaz popped through the doorway and into the house, falling onto his belly. Dana entered, shutting the door behind her and going to follow Carol and Lori. Chaz got up and dusted himself off. The girls seated themselves on the couch, all breathing out sighs of relief now that they could relax. Chaz sat on the floor by Dana, stretching and crossing his arms behind his head.
"Crazy day, am I right?" He asked. "Can you believe what happened to the school?"
"If I hadn't seen it, I literally would not." Lori said, picking up the remote. "I'm going to turn on the news channel and see if there's anything about it."
She turned the television on and flipped through the channels until she found the local news. As she expected, there was a breaking story covering the arrest of the five bandits who they had encountered earlier that day. The police were taking them away in their cruisers while local news woman Katherine Mulligan was standing in front of the school to cover the story.
"Katherine Mulligan here, in front of Royal Woods High, were five men were just arrested for stealing assorted snacks, drinks and art supplies. The thieves were apparently taking advantage of the school's current dilapidated state caused by a rogue robot attack the preceding day. Said robot was created by Royal Woods' own resident juvenile genius, Lisa Loud.
According to Miss Loud, her robot was intended to care for the schools grounds, yet went haywire. In an attempt to return the land to nature, it accelerated the growth of plants in the area, relocated wildlife to the property and began to dismantle cars in the parking lot and destroy the school building itself. The rampage was stopped when Lisa Loud activated the robot's self-destruct feature, causing a bit more damage to the school, but preventing so much more. Further details on the robot attack can be found on the news channel's website. Back to you, Tucker."
The scene switched back to the news room, where the local anchorman Tucker began to talk about the next story. Lori, Dana, Carol, and Chaz were all staring wide eyed with their mouths hanging open. After a little time to process what they had just seen, Lori shut the television off again and set the remote onto the arm of the couch.
"Dang…. All that happened in just one day." She said. "Wow."
"It just goes to show you how much can happen in the world around you, even when you aren't paying attention." Carol noted.
"So wait… the world didn't end then?" Chaz asked.
Dana slapped her forehead. "No, Chaz. The world didn't end! Lori's four year old sister just made a robot that went crazy and trashed the place." Dana told him. "Nothing out of the ordinary...for this town."
"Okay… so now that we got answers, how about we get back to studying?" Carol asked. "Even if finals are postponed, we should still be ready for them."
"After how literally crazy things were just a short while ago, studying sounds good to me." Lori said, standing up again. "Let's go."
The four returned to their studies, passing by the hours until it was time for them all to go their separate ways. After Chaz, Dana and Carol all gathered their things and left, Lori returned to the basement to clean it up a bit. She started by gathering up the old cushions to pile up in the corner. As she bent down, she noticed her belly poking out between the waist of her shorts and the hem of her tank top.
"Yikes." She said, poking at her belly with her fingertips. "I really am starting to let myself go. How did I not notice this sooner? It's like a little pillow under my skin. I should tell Boo-boo Bear to not send me such a big box the next time he gets me chocolates."
Lori finished putting the cushions away and grabbed a broom to start sweeping. While she was working her way across the floor, she noticed that the washing machine was still out of place and spotted the little door again. It was wide open and Lori suddenly had a worrisome thought that one of the pets, or even Lily might go into it and down that long, creepy tunnel.
Shaking her head to get the thought out of her mind, Lori rushed upstairs to check for the pets. She found all of Lana's pets in her bedroom, Walt was in his bird cage and Gio was running around in his ball. A quick peek outside the window in Luan and Luna's room revealed that both Cliff and Charles were resting in the grass, Cliff basking in the sun and Charles in his dog house. With her worries now gone, Lori fetched a roll of duct tape and quickly returned to the basement.
The first thing Lori did when she got back to the little door was shut it and set the latch back into place. Then she tore of pieces of tape long enough to seal it all around and then added another layer to each for good measure. With that done, Lori pushed the washing machine back into its proper place and piled up some old boxes beside it to better hide the door from curious eyes.
Lori turned and went back to head upstairs. As she was halfway up, she glanced over at the washing machine again. She started to think of how to bring up her discovery to her parents. But would that really be a good idea? If word got out, any of her younger siblings could try to get in there. It would just be something else to for her parents to worry about if nothing else.
"It's literally better if it's hidden and forgotten." She said to herself. "Even if my parents now about it, they probably hid it for the same reasons I hid it just now. And it should stay that way."
Her decision set, Lori left the basement, turning off the light and shutting the door behind her. She spent the rest of her day staring at her phone or skimming over the pages of magazines. But even as she immersed herself in her favorite hobbies, her mind kept going back to the events that had happened that day. As strange as it sounded, she didn't completely dislike how things had gone after they found the tunnel. Despite the trouble and the danger she had encountered with the others, it had been pretty exciting. She could already tell that one day they would be able to look back on it and laugh. But that wouldn't be for a good, long while.
The end.